© Ben Ames Willams,
CHAPTER XIV—Continued
Ge
Phil smiled happily; and then he
turned to Mary's letter, and sobered
again; and for a moment he held it
in his hands, remembering their last
word from Mary with bitterness.
He was tempted to destroy this let-
ter unopened; but at last, like one
performing an unpleasant duty, he
tore off the end of the envelope and
drew out the letter inside and began
to read.
And at the first words, his eyes
widened, and his breath came hiss-
ingly and he sat up sharply in his
berth. The letter was from Paris.
Mary had written:
Dear Phil:
Gus Loran killed Miss Wines.
told me so.
I'll try to tell you just what happened.
I think I told you he was here. His
wife was getting a divorce. We met by
accident; but he seemed fascinated by
me. My Argentine and I weren't get-
ting along very well. He's gone back
to South America now. I began to real-
ize that Mr. Loran had something on his
mind. He was drinking a lot, and look-
ing sick; and then he began to give me
presents, pretty valuable ones, and 1
asked him why, and—he was drunk most
of the time of course—he began to talk
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——
be reached soon after dawn—he said
nothing to Mrs. Sentry. When she
saw his high spirits and asked some
question, he said evasively, “Oh,
just looking forward to seeing Bar-
bara, that's all!”
They alighted at the Cleveland
station, and Dan and Barbara were
there to greet them, and Barbara
was quick in her mother's arms,
while Phil pumped Dan's hand. Then
Barbara came to kiss Phil, her eyes
dancing; and she linked her arm
through his, and Mrs. Sentry and
Dan were close on their heels, and
they came to Dan's car. Phil,
watching Barbara, thought she was
become beautiful. It had never oc-
curred to him that his sister was
beautiful before. He had thought
of her as a nice-looking youngster;
but now she wore a subtle radiance
of glowing eyes and clear skin and
steady lips that were strong even
when they curved in quick laughter.
Phil said, “Dan, you've made a
beauty out of Barb!”
“Old Doctor Fisher,” Dan chuck-
led. “Every treatment guaran-
teed. A raving beauty after three
HHT
oo
about some great wrong he had done
me, and about making amends,
This went on for weeks, and he's been
sort of cracking up all the time. I asked
him questions, but he'd shut up like a
<lam. But when my husband left me,
he got maudlin and wept about what
was happening to me, and blamed him-
self, and finally, night before last, he
begged me to forgive him and I asked
for what, and 1 finally got it out of him.
He had Miss Wines in Maine in August.
The guide lied for him. And he says
she tried to blackmail him, and his wife
was already threatening to divorce him
and collect big alimony, and he was
scared. Then Miss Wines sent word to
him to meet her in the office that night
at half-past eleven. He was going to
New York, anyway; and he decided to
try to scare her so she would let him
alone. He had a pistol he had carried
in the War, and he took it to scare her
with. He says he took out the magazine,
thought it was empty. He got on the
New York train and put on his pyjama#
over his clothes and called the porter
and told him he was going to sleep,
and then slipped off through another car,
and went out a different gate, and went
to the office and she was there.
She'd stolen father's key, he says. He
offered her the money there was in the
safe, and she said she wanted a lot more
than that, and she said she was going to
tell Mrs. Loran, and started out. And
he jammed the pistol against her back
as she passed him in the doorway, think.
ing it was empty, intending to scare
her, and it went off
She took two or three steps and fell;
and he saw the empty cartridge rolling
across the floor and picked it up, and
then ran to her and called to her to get
up, and saw she was dead And he
heard someone on the stairs and turned
out the lights, and when father came,
in the dark, he jumped past him down
the stairs and ran And he saw fa-
ther's car and started to drive away in
it, and realized he had turned into a
one-way street and might be arrested
for that, so he left it there and hurried
back to the station and sneaked on the
train. No one saw him.
So, Phil, 1 went to the American em-
bassy here and told them, and they got
the police. They are going to arrange
things so they can hear everything we
say, in case I can get him to go over
it all again. I'll try, Phil. They say
Just my story isn't enough to prove it,
Maybe you'll have heard from the po-
lice before you get this. I read about
father’s commutation; and even if 1
€am’'t get Mr. Loran to talk again, this
snay help to get father pardoned.
It's too late to help me. But maybe
it will help make up for my deserting
you all. Anyway, it's all I can do.
Mary.
Phil read this letter through with
facing eyes; and when he had done,
he read it again more slowly, till
every word was fixed on his brain.
And there was great triumph in
him, and a deep jubilation. His
first thought was to rouse his moth-
er, tell her. But—she was asleep,
and if she knew this tonight, she
would not sleep again. She would
insist that they leave the train, go
: Jpact to his father . . .
* ' And he thought of Barbara; Bar-
bara, who of them all had never
faltered in her faith. And in the
end he hugged this secret close. It
could wait, he decided. Wait till
tomorrow. Wait till they were with
Barbara. Barbara had a right fo
be the first to know.
So in the morning—they were
months of marriage, or your money
back.”
Then they were stowing them-
selves in the car, and Phil saw that
it was new, and thought Dan must
be prospering, and wondered what
their home would be like. It was
an apartment, he knew; and when
they were arrived, the apartment,
though small, proved to be reas-
suringly sunny and comfortable,
and the furniture could not be ob-
jected to.
Phil saved his great news, relish-
ing the anticipation of their great
happiness. Barbara, through break-
fast, did most of the talking, only
appealing to Dan for corroboration
now and then, relating her arrival
in Cleveland when she came to join
Dan, and the first days in a hotel
when, while Dan was at work, she
sought for apartments, till she had
a list for his inspection; and how
they moved in here with nothing
but twin beds, a few towels and
some linen, and so began house-
keeping.
“So first I furnished the kitchen,”
Barbara explained. ‘Just buying
each day the things I actually need-
ed. And then the bedroom; and
then I began on the living-room. Aft-
er I had things picked out, Dan
would go see them before I decided.
And I made all the hangings my-
self, by hand. I'm as good a semp-
stress as Miss Simpkins right now,
mother. And when we had every-
thing in, I began to monogram our
linen—Why mother! You're cry-
ing!"
Mrs. Sentry said through tears:
“It's all right, Barbara. I was just
being sorry for myself because I
missed sharing all that fun with you.
I should have been here, helped,
done most of it.”” She spoke to Dan.
“I'm afraid your bride didn’t come
to you as well equipped and pre-
pared as she should have been,
Dan.”
Dan grinned. “I haven't any com-
plaint,” he declared. ‘‘But maybe
it was hard on Barb.”
“You idiot!” said Barbara gently;
and to her mother: “It's been fun.
Perfect! I shouldn’t have wanted it
any other way.”
Mrs. Sentry looked toward Phil,
and suddenly her eyes twinkled.
“I'll do better by you and Linda,
Phil,” she promised; and Phil's
heart leaped, and Barbara cried de-
lightedly : :
“Phil! You and Linda? Honest
Oh, that's grand!”
Phil could not speak, staring at
his mother. Barbara was kissing
him hard and happily, and Dan was
shaking his hand, and then the tele-
phone rang in the hall, and Dan
went to answer it, and Phil said
“But
know—""
She smiled. ‘I am not blind! You
and Linda wore it like banners, that
day you came back to York.”
“And you don’t mind?”
“I've minded your not trusting
me enough to tell me about it, that’s
all.”
“When will you be married?”
Barbara challenged. ‘‘Soon?”
Mrs. Sentry said smilingly: “Yes,
soon, I hope.” And to her son: “I
wasn't sure I could—let you go, till
we saw Barbara so happy, Phil. At
home I had too much the feeling
that things were ending; that there
was nothing to look forward to. But
—things are just beginning here,
with Barb and Dan. And you and
Linda can make a fine new begin-
ning too.”
Phil's throat was full; he thought:
This is the time to tell them! He
reached in his pocket for Mary's
letter. But then Dan came into the
room. He came quietly enough; yet
his very quiet made them look at
him in sudden attention.
Phil saw Dan's face white and
set; and Barbara saw Dan's face
too, and was in his arms in one
swift movement, staring up at him,
crying: “Dan! What is it, Dan?”’
Dan said in a low tone: “It was
the office that called, Mrs. Sentry.
They've just had an A. P. bulletin,
with—great news! Gus Loran has
confessed to the French police that
he killed Miss Wines. The Gover-
nor says Mr. Sentry will be par-
doned at once, will be free today.”
mother, how did you
Trains are tedious things; but
planes move swiftly. Yet to Mrs.
Sentry, that day while they seemed
to hang motionless in a cloudless
sky alive with sunshine so bright
she thought it could never be ob-
scured, the swift journey homeward
appeared to be interminable.
But it was not. The panorama be-
low them, moment by moment,
changed; the mountains beneath
them slid behind; new cities far
ahead came quickly into view,
and then, distant yet beautiful, the
sea . . .
Before they landed at East Bos-
ton, Phil had seen Linda waiting,
far below.
her lips tight to his, she whispered
only his name, Phil, Phil, Phil, her
lips moving against his. And then:
‘He is waiting for you, Phil. For
you all to take him home together.
I've my car—"'
He rode with her through congest-
ed streets to the shabby portals of
the prison; and the limousine pulled
up behind them. Upon arrival there
she said:
“Dan and I will go on ahead, Phil.
him here and bring him home.”
And she whispered, “But hurry to
me, Phil.”
Phil nodded, his eyes blurred so
that he could not see. Of what fol-
lowed he remembered little save
the strong grasp of his father’s
hand. Then they were in the lim-
ousine, Phil on one of the small
seats, half turned to face Barbara
and his father and mother in the
seat behind. They crossed the
bridge above the murky railroad
yards, and Phil saw how pale his
father was. But
beside the river where the sun shone
clear, Phil thought: It will put color
in his cheek again. It will not take
long.
And he thought: We are all very
silent. And then he nodded, under-
standing. There was too much to
say; and yet there was nothing that
was not already being said by Bar-
bara, her hands tight clasped on
his father's arm; by Mrs. Sentry
pressed close against her husband's
side.
They crossed the river, passed fa-
at home. And Linda would be
Phil turned in his seat to face for-
ward, he turned to look ahead.
(THE END)
Dust is never a pleasant thing to
breathe, but some dusts are far
worse than others. Coal dust, for
example, may color a miner's or
coal heaver’'s lungs as black as
night, but it rarely does anything
more serious, states a writer in the
Chicago Tribune. On the other hand,
the repeated inhalation of freshly
ground silica dust (silica is a gen-
eral name for the compound that
makes up sand and quartz), fre-
quently results in a disease known
as silicosis, characterized by an ex-
tensive scarring and destruction of
lung tissue.
ognized as a serious industrial haz-
ard. Since sand and quartz are
obviously quite nonpoisonous as
found in nature, the fact that they
are more dangerous than other
dusts when finely ground, led to the
suspicion that silicosis was a re-
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Tests on rabbits appear to have
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with a trace of metallic aluminum
dust
Silica is a compound of the ele.
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atoms of these elements are so ar-
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possess a small but definite part of
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Presumably this is responsible for
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is more soluble than other forms of
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that the deadly effect of silica dust
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If this were true, the way to de-
nature silica dust would be to bring
it in contact with something that
had a greater affinity for oxygen, so
that the latter would be completely
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tack living tissue. Theoretically,
aluminum should have such an ef-
fect, and tests with it have borne
out these predictions.
ELINOR
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® Writes a
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‘THERE
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URGENT
A distinguished bishop, while mak-
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However, when the
ticket was still missing.
“0, well, bishop, it will be all
right if you never find it,” the in-
spector assured him.
“No, it won't,” contradicted the
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I want to know where I'm going.” =
Stray Stories Magazine,
No Hurry
“My daughter wants a roll of No.
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“Regular or verichrome?”
“What's the difference?”
“The verichrome is a much faster
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My daugh-
READY TO GO
—
Artist—I'm sure, madam, I shall
never be able to reproduce the won-
derful coloring of your face.
Subject—That's easy—you'll find
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Under Par
Pa-Well, son, how are
marks?
Son—They're under water.
Pa-—What do you mean, under wa-
ter?
Son—Below “C” level.—Royal Ar-
canum Bulletin,
your
Literal
Lawyer (paternally, to client anx-
ious for divorce)—My dear young
lady, occasional tiffs are bound to
occur in your married life. But
think of the joy to be got out of it.
Client—Exactly. Get me out of
it,
Cautious Encouragement
“So you never find fault with your
wife's cooking?”
“l should say not," answered Mr.
Meekton. “When my wife conde-
scends to cook I say everything I
can to encourage her!” Washington
Star.
Narrow Escape
“That teacup you broke yester-
day can't be matched anywhere,
Mary!"
“Oh, aren't I lucky, mum? 1
thought I should have to buy a new
one!”
Another Tyrone Power.
Teacher—Andy, write: “I'm a bad
boy,” on the blackbnard and sign
your name 100 times.
Andy—Oh, just an
hound, huh?
Brave Boy!
glar.
ing downstairs three steps at a time.
Betty—Where was he—on the
roof?
Special Delivery
Teacher—Can you think of two
words that contain over a thousand
letters?
Oliver—Yes, ma'am. Post office.
Took No Chances
der the doctor prescribed, Maria?"
door key.”
USE SOFT PEDAL
Masseur— Yes, sir, as I said be-
fore, sir, your skin is very unsightly.
Patron—Well, you needn't rub it
in!
Slow Motion
Mrs. Horner—To whom are you
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Andy-—To Professor Wotasnozzle.
Mrs. Horner—Why are you writ.
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